


Parked In Buffalo

by Adelina Le Morte March (Raphaela_Crowley)



Category: A Princess for Christmas (2011), Parked (2010)
Genre: Angst and Romance, Angst and Tragedy, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:07:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raphaela_Crowley/pseuds/Adelina%20Le%20Morte%20March
Summary: After her adventures at Castlebury Hall, Jules Daly returns to Buffalo to see a lost friend, Cathal O'Regan, but is she too late?
Relationships: Jules/Ashton, Jules/Cathal
Kudos: 2





	Parked In Buffalo

**Author's Note:**

> (Written April 2013)

_Parked In Buffalo_

A _Parked/Princess For Christmas_ crossover

Implied Cathal/Jules; Ashton/Jules

_"This is the right choice," Jules reminds herself as she walks across the parking lot to the yellow car she knows will be waiting there._

_Winter has set in hard and early this year, and though there's salt spread all over the tar to keep the ice away, snow is piled up like mountains all around, at every single side and angle Jules can possibly turn her head to look at. There's even a light white dusting over the hood of the yellow car. Her white breath is visible against the reddish-purple twilight. The scarf around her neck itches slightly._

_He looks out the car window and sees her coming. He gets out and stretches, spreading his arms wide and groaning._

_There's a faint smile on his face, when his eyes meet hers across the lot, as if he's happy to see her, but Jules can't will herself to smile back. Not today. It certainly doesn't help matters any that he's obviously been smoking dope..._ again _... The wind is blowing in her direction, and he absolutely_ reeks _of it._

_"Cathal," says Jules, slowly, as she approaches._

_"Hello, Jules." Cathal's grin grows a mite toothy. "Good to see you. How've you been holding' up since...?" His voice trails off and his smile begins to fade. He doesn't know how to talk to her about the recent tragedy in her family. Cathal can't help_ himself _, can't even comfort himself without drugs, so of course he has no idea how to help_ Jules _cope, however desperately he might want to._

_Jules fakes a smile and drops his gaze. "I've been doing the best I can."_

_"I really am sorry about your sister, Jules."_

_She nods, eyes still locked with the asphalt. "She was a magnificent person. Her and Charles both."_

_"I don't doubt it," Cathal agrees. "Not if she was anything like you."_

_Tears threaten to spring into Jules' eyes._ Be strong _, she has to remind herself._ Do the right thing here, for both of you. _"Cathal, we need to talk."_

_"What about?"_

_"Now that my sister's dead," says Jules softly, letting her eyes rise back up to Cathal's face, letting herself take in the fact that there is a scab on his lip, and another on his cheek, and an only partly-healed brow injury she would bet money on being from a drug-dealer's hand. "Now that..." Her voice is so weak, but she must stay strong. "The children, Milo and Maddie... Well, they're going to be coming to live with me."_

_"Of course." Cathal shrugs. She's their aunt; what could be more natural?_

_"I have a...duty now..." Jules sighs. "A duty to protect those children. If I'm going to be their legal guardian, I have to... I have to have a safe environment just for them. I can't let any bad influences into their lives, not after all they've gone through. Especially Milo, he's so impressionable at his age, and-"_

_"What are you_ saying _, Jules?" Cathal's eyes narrow slightly._

_"I'm saying, it wouldn't be appropriate for you to come around to the house with them there."_

_Cathal looks hurt and offended. "You really think I would ever harm your sister's children?"_

_"Not you, Cathal," Jules assures him, shaking her head. "But someone dangerous could follow you. You know they could."_

_"I wouldn't let that happen."_

_"Your kind of being careful isn't going to be good enough anymore."_

_"It's always been!" Cathal protests. "I've shown up outside your work, at...erm...what do you call it...?"_

_"_ Buffalo Antiques & Stuff _," Jules reminds him._

_"Right." Cathal registers this information and continues. "But nobody ever followed me_ there _, did they?"_

_"No, of course not." He doesn't understand, Jules knows, and that's what makes it so much worse. "It's just... You aren't going to change, but now_ I _don't have any choice. I_ have _to make changes, for Milo and Maddie."_

_The car door is still open; Cathal slams it shut. "What do you mean I'm never going to change? Of course I am! I'm going to go clean. I-I really am, Jules. I mean it this time."_

_She folds her arms across her chest and her jaw automatically clenches. "You told me you meant it the_ last _time."_

_"I did... I did mean it..."_

_"But you couldn't do it."_

_"I wouldn't smoke_ anything _in front of..."_

_"I can smell it on you now," Jules tells him. "Milo's a smart boy. He'd figure it out."_

_Cathal closes his eyes and inhales deeply._

_"I just hope, someday, you can understand why I'm doing this and maybe try to forgive me."_

_He lets out the breath of held-in air. "Forgive you? For what? Everything's fine. You'll just have to come here, to see me."_

_"No, I can't do that."_

_"Why not?"_

_"Cathal, I want to_ keep _guardianship of those children once they're in my house. I want to look after them the best I can; I owe my sister that much. I can't be seen coming to visit..."_

_Cathal finishes her sentence for her. "...Somebody like me."_

_"I really am sorry." Jules uncrosses her arms and reaches for him, but he takes a step back, just out of her reach._

_"So, the long and short of it is, you're giving up on me."_

_"You know I don't have any other option."_

_Cathal shakes his head, biting his lower lip to hold back tears. "Not welcome in your home anymore, not good enough to be your friend anymore... I should have known this would happen eventually."_

_"No, no, no..." Jules chimes frantically. "It's not_ you _. You're... You've been a good friend to me. I mean, you even helped me get government support when I was briefly out of the job." That had been before_ Antiques & Stuff _. "I'll never forget..."_

_"You will." Cathal can't even look at her. "You'll find somebody whose life isn't all f-"_

_Jules glares just a little, anticipating what he's going to say. "Don't even-"_

_He catches himself and manages to say what he has to without using that particular word. "Somebody who's nice and normal, yeah?"_

_"Cathal..."_

_"One of these days I'm going to get better, Jules."_

_"You call me then."_

_"You don't believe me."_

_No, she doesn't. Because he lies. Perhaps he doesn't always_ mean _to, when he doesn't quite manage to keep his promises, but he does. "Please don't make this any harder than it already is."_

_"Doesn't seem so hard to me," snaps Cathal. "The words seemed to roll right off your pretty little tongue."_

_"How can you say that?" Jules' chin starts quivering. "You lie to me all the time. You always have the words to get what you want, because you think you need it."_

_"When did I lie, Jules?"_

_"When I asked about what drugs you..." Her voice falters. "You_ swore _you never inject heroin. And like an idiot I believed you."_

_"I showed you-"_

_"Yes." She nods. "You showed me your arms." Then, "But I saw you, a couple weeks ago. You inject through the veins in your_ feet _, don't you?"_

_His already pale face blanches even more so, draining itself completely. He looks into her eyes now, but there's no explanation reflected back in his own._

_"That's a yes," Jules mutters to herself._

_"Look-"_

_"You_ do _inject, and you probably always did."_

_"It's just..."_

_She holds up her hand, warding off his weak attempts at talking his way out of it. "I don't want to hear it, Cathal."_

_"Why didn't you say anything when...?"_

_"Because I thought I could help you," says Jules sadly, cocking her head and looking into his face again. "Because we're friends; we've always been friends, since I first met you in this parking lot." She reaches up and wipes at her nose with the back of her wrist. "But this has to end. And it has to end today." She sticks her hand into her pocket and her fingers wrap around something hard and silver, which she holds out to him. "I fixed your watch for you."_

_His father's watch... Cathal takes it as nonchalantly as he can, but there's an unmistakable tremor twitching in his fingers that gives away his true feelings about the object they're grasping at. "So long, Jules."_

_"Goodbye, Cathal." She doesn't know what to do, if she should hug him or what. It seems heartless to just walk away, knowing she'll never see him again..._

_Before she can make up her mind one way or the other, while she's still standing there before him, Cathal takes a chance; he leans forward and kisses her full on the mouth, even daring to wrap his arms around her and pull her to him for a brief moment._

_Gasping, Jules pulls back from his grasp, away from his arms and lips, as far away from that unexpected kiss as possible, backing up slowly, tears filling her eyes and spilling over, running all down her face like rain._

_Cathal feels guilty and calls after her, but she's already turned._

_She's turned and is running._

_She is running as far away from him as she can get, not because she wants to be, not because she doesn't like him, but because she won't leave it undone. She meant to break all ties with him today, for Milo and Maddie, for her sister and Charles, and now she has._

_One rough, sudden kiss won't change that._

_She will never_ let _it._

* * *

SHORTLY BEFORE HER wedding to Prince Ashton, son of Edward, Duke of Castlebury, her new home, Jules returned to Buffalo to take care of a few last minute things.

Edward offered, of course, to send Paisley to handle any manners that needed personal attention, though he made no secret of the fact that he thought there was no reason anyone should have to go back to transfer anything. His soon-to-be daughter-in-law was marrying a prince for mercy's sake! That would make her a bloody princess! Could things not be sorted, without trouble, for a _princess_ if for nobody else? But Jules was almost _happy_ about going, about saying goodbye to whatever friends she had there -she was thinking of looking up her former employer at _Buffalo Antiques & Stuff_, just to see how he was doing, if business had gotten any better for the poor man.

Ashton offered to come with her, leaving Maddie and Milo with the servants and their grandfather for supervision, but Jules turned him down. She loved him, and was thrilled to be marrying him, knowing they would be happy together, but there was just one person in Buffalo she wanted to see alone, now that she didn't have her sister's children to think about while she was there, and she wasn't sure it would be fair to ask Ashton to understand that.

Ashton was, without a doubt, the most beautiful, wonderful man she'd never known, but even he had his limits. He wouldn't understand about Cathal.

Cathal would be surprised to see her again, but deep down Jules believed he would also be happy for her, once she told him about Ashton and Castlebury Hall, and how the children were reconciled with their grandfather.

So she flew back alone, spending more than a fair share of the flight thinking of a certain young man more or less permanently parked in a yellow car. Was it stupid of her to go back on her word, now that she was leaving Buffalo for Castlebury indefinitely and try to be his friend again just one more time? Was he still doing dope? Heroin?

Whatever he was doing, she hoped he was being healthier and safer than when she'd last seen him.

THERE WAS MUCH to do before she could get a moment to look him up, but to her surprise there was no yellow car in the parking lot. She asked a guy who looked homeless and had a long, white beard like Santa with bread crumbs and God only knew what else matted into it, about the car, and he replied that he'd seen it towed hardly a day ago.

Jules didn't know where else to look; she'd never seen him anywhere but that car. No, that wasn't quite true, she'd seen him other places, but that was always when _he_ came to meet _her_ , not the other way around.

She thought she might inquire around the neighborhood and see if anyone had heard from Cathal.

Outside of a nice, gray-and-white house, a man in a fine black silk suit came out the front door, standing on the stone steps.

Jules wasn't sure why, but she found herself staring at the house, as if she knew somehow or other she'd come to the right place.

"Miss?" said the man in the suit.

"Yes."

"You here for the O'Regan fellow?"

Jules paused, thinking for a moment. " _Cathal_ O'Regan?"

"Yep, that's him."

"He's _here_?" Jules couldn't keep the intense surprise out of her voice. What was Cathal doing in a nice little house like this? Was that why his car was gone? Had things turned around for him, too? Perhaps he'd found someone special as well, someone who was to him what Ashton was to her.

"Yes, Miss, come right on in." The man waved her inside.

Jules went up the steps and followed him into the house.

As soon as she got a good look at the interior, she knew something was very, very wrong. Everything was neat as a pin, which was good, but it gave the impression either of a castle or a public place. Moreover, Cathal was no neat-freak; he was a bit on the sloppy side. After all, she'd seen the state of his car and knew what his housekeeping habits were like...

Top that with the fact that there was a stack of yellow flyers on the fancy walnut credenza the man hurried her past on their way to get to Cathal, and her feelings of absolute dread only increased.

Her heart plummeted when she saw.

A coffin, open, as if for a wake. And in it, Cathal's body, still and peaceful as it never was in real life, hands folded at his stomach. He was dressed up and looked like he'd been well cleaned and prepared for burial.

Jules pressed her hand to her mouth. "What happened to him? How did he die?"

The man, who she now realized must be an undertaker, looked a little stunned that she came to the funeral home and yet didn't know how her friend had died, but he answered her politely enough anyway. "We were told it was an overdose."

The tears came, slow at first but soon to run faster. " _Oh, Cathal_..."

"I'm really glad you came, you know." The undertaker patted her arm. "I thought no one would be coming for him. The family made all the arrangements, but they didn't want to fly in from Dublin for him. Said they'd try, and pay for everything either way, but not to expect them. So it's good he has somebody."

"Yes." Jules forced a weak smile and nodded. "It is."

Later, Jules went to a corner florist and returned to the funeral home with a single white rose, which she slid under Cathal's cold, dead hand. She couldn't help noticing he was still wearing the watch she'd fixed for him, though the glass was broken and cracked in several different places, in a rough pattern like a spider's web.

It was fitting because Cathal himself, much of his short life, seemed to have always been caught in a web.

And it was the last web -drugs or loneliness, whichever it was that really did him in- that took him from the world -from being parked in Buffalo where he was once friends with a woman called Jules' Daly- into the shadowy purgatory of death where he knew nothing and perhaps finally found some relief from his bitterest reality.

Alas, not all fairy-tales can have happy endings.

For Jules Daly, the dreamer from Buffalo, the story was just beginning.

But for Cathal O'Regan, the tale was over long before that needle slid into his vein.


End file.
